I came across a newspaper article this morning.

The article looks to me like the opening salvo in the latest war.  Now that smokers have been confined to the ghettos, it’s time to move on to the next phase – the ‘obese’.

The article is interesting from quite a few angles.

In it, the author [a Dr Dennis Gottfried MD] is quite open about the fact that the smoking war is based on lies and propaganda. 

There is no question that second-hand smoke can be unpleasant; few non-smokers want to sit in a cloud of tobacco dust or have tobacco smell on their clothing or hair. But is it dangerous to your health? A study of 35,561 spouses of smokers followed for 38 years published in the British Medical Journal in 2003 showed that second-hand smoke is an irritant, but does not cause life-threatening disease.

So there you have it from someone apart from myself.  He admits that second-hand smoke is harmless and goes on to gloat about “the social isolation of smokers”.

The really interesting bit comes in the second half of the article.

“A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in July 2007 clearly shows that each of us is at an added personal health risk of gaining weight if our friends or associates become obese. This fascinating study followed the weight changes over time among residents of Framingham, Mass. It revealed "networks of obesity"; that is, we are all interconnected in regard to weight.

When people with whom we are closely associated gain weight, such as a spouse, sibling, neighbour or friend, we are also at an increased risk of gaining weight. For example, if your friend becomes obese, you have a 177 percent increased risk of becoming obese. If your friend’s brother becomes obese, your risk is still increased. The increased risk goes out to four degrees of separation.”

So there you have it.  The war has only just begun and they are already talking about second-hand obesity. 

Second hand obesity seems to be far deadlier that second-hand smoking.  You can apparently be infected by someone you have never even heard of?  If my friend’s sister’s husband, who lives in Australia is obese, then I run a higher risk of obesity?  Wow!  Potent stuff?  That is truly astounding.  It is so astounding that it could only come from the Anti Lobby who are masters of the distorted truth and falsified statistics.

At the end of the article, we gat a glimpse into the future.

Yes.  Eaters are going to be socially isolated too.  If you want to eat that burger, you are going to have to get the fuck outa here.  Get your lard-arse out into the back yard which is the designated fatty area.

So what’s next?  Third hand obesity?  Are we going to get fat from sitting at a table where a fat person sat?

I can see fun times ahead.

-oOo-

[Hat tip to Frank Davis who pointed me in the right direction]